Shopping center (mall) entertainment has evolved over the past several decades, into a diverse mix of activities and products to encourage shopper loyalty, repeat visits, and in some instances, expenditures.
Product Introductions - Out-of-home entertainment facilities such as shopping centers and other retail venues, have proved to be excellent places for consumer brands to introduce new products to consumers. Methods of product introduction range from placing automobiles in common areas, to contests and give-aways, to traveling shows.
Live Performance - Malls have brought live performance to shoppers for many years, almost always free as a means to encourage visits, and typically without expensive production values.
Fashion and Consumer Product Shows - Long popular with shoppers, shopping centers have brought fashion runway shows and consumer product show to malls in all manner of formats. Some malls, such as The Fashion Show (Las Vegas, Nevada) have even built elaborate EASIL systems in their common areas to allow relatively complex live productions.
Private Commercial Networks - Private networks in shopping centers are now commonplace, although most in-mall closed-circuit television networks feature only basic mall informatio and electronic press kit type information. Some malls, such as The Fashion Show (Las Vegas, Nevada), have explored the use of multi-screen video presentations which allow unique storytelling possibilities along with the more typical commercial messages. The Zone at Glendale Galleria (Glendale, Galleria) was created as a "Generation Y" gathering place within the mall augmented by a private commercial network called Ztv. Entertainment company Universal Studios also explored such private commercial networks and multi-screen presentations at its Universal Studios Experience Beijing facility.
Carts and Kiosks and Temporary RMU's - Carts and kiosks and other forms of retail merchandising units, have long been an essential aspect of creating great retail environments, "great streets", and other great "gathering places".
EASIL - Technology has progressed nicely in the out-of-home entertainment industries, allowing experiential designers to create all manner of built environments for end-users - whether shoppers, customers, guests, buyers, tenants. EASIL refers to the "environmental effects", audio, staging, imaging, and lighting systems that can be orchestrated to create end-user environments.
Sponsorship Programs - Over the past two decades, consumer product companies have increasingly embraced out-of-home entertainment places such as shopping malls and other retail centers, as one more means to communicate their brand messages to consumers. Sponsorship plans for out-of-home facilities and destination places are now common place.
